Dick Morris And Eileen McGann: Obama Channels Bush
[Mr. Morris was an adviser to Bill Clinton for 20 years. He is the author of "Condi vs. Hillary." Mrs. McGann, an attorney and consultant, is a CEO of VOTE.com and LegislativeVote.com. She works with Mr. Morris on campaigns and around the world, specializing in using the Internet to win elections.]
Tonight we watched Obama address the cadets of West Point and, over their shoulder, the American people. I kept asking myself: if I were in the audience did I hear anything worth risking my life for?
There is a lot in Afghanistan worth risking one’s life for, but Obama sure didn’t summon it.
Watching President Obama address the nation, the right probably recognized the incongruity of sending additional troops on a difficult mission and setting, at the same time, a very short timetable for their withdrawal. The right doubtless wondered why the Taliban won’t just wait Obama out and move in after he leaves.
But the political cost of this speech will not come on the right. Obama will get the support of everyone who won’t ever vote for him. But it is with his base on the left that he will be in trouble.
His volunteers, his backers, his donors have to have watched that speech and asked themselves “why did we win the election?” Obama sounded just like Bush. More articulate, perhaps, but substantively precisely the same.
His decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, an odd move for a peace candidate, his failure to close Guantanamo, our continued military presence in Iraq, and his failure to act on liberal priorities like gays in the military and immigration reform, are all sapping his support from those who voted for him.
For those with memories of Vietnam, the task of backing a corrupt regime summons the most unpleasant of comparisons...
... On Capitol Hill, the Democrats seem to have almost abandoned the message war on health care. They are hunkering down and focused on keeping their troops in line. The appeals to party discipline are so strong that one senses that they are prepared to march, in lock-step, over the cliff together.
When one considers where Obama was only a year ago and where he is today, the fall is simply stunning. That he clings to the staff that helped him take it is amazing. This has to be the least successful White House since, well, Clinton’s 1993-94 crowd. In fact, its many of the same people!
Read entire article at DickMorris.com
Tonight we watched Obama address the cadets of West Point and, over their shoulder, the American people. I kept asking myself: if I were in the audience did I hear anything worth risking my life for?
There is a lot in Afghanistan worth risking one’s life for, but Obama sure didn’t summon it.
Watching President Obama address the nation, the right probably recognized the incongruity of sending additional troops on a difficult mission and setting, at the same time, a very short timetable for their withdrawal. The right doubtless wondered why the Taliban won’t just wait Obama out and move in after he leaves.
But the political cost of this speech will not come on the right. Obama will get the support of everyone who won’t ever vote for him. But it is with his base on the left that he will be in trouble.
His volunteers, his backers, his donors have to have watched that speech and asked themselves “why did we win the election?” Obama sounded just like Bush. More articulate, perhaps, but substantively precisely the same.
His decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, an odd move for a peace candidate, his failure to close Guantanamo, our continued military presence in Iraq, and his failure to act on liberal priorities like gays in the military and immigration reform, are all sapping his support from those who voted for him.
For those with memories of Vietnam, the task of backing a corrupt regime summons the most unpleasant of comparisons...
... On Capitol Hill, the Democrats seem to have almost abandoned the message war on health care. They are hunkering down and focused on keeping their troops in line. The appeals to party discipline are so strong that one senses that they are prepared to march, in lock-step, over the cliff together.
When one considers where Obama was only a year ago and where he is today, the fall is simply stunning. That he clings to the staff that helped him take it is amazing. This has to be the least successful White House since, well, Clinton’s 1993-94 crowd. In fact, its many of the same people!